Extreme Makeover: Tinkerbellarella Pre-Trip Edition UPDATED 11/1/12!

[KatMark]

Just saw this posted on FB...I'm here; I'll come back later to read.

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

Just saw this posted on FB...I'm here; I'll come back later to read.

 

[eandesmom]

saw the FB shout out and am signing on!

If I were ever to do a race, it would have to be a Disney one, I can't think of better motivation really than using it as a way to get another trip!

Resort plans look great, I adore (adore adore) the Boardwalk. Just returned from a trip there and fell in love.

AP's should be on plastic cards, it really bugs me to no end!

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

saw the FB shout out and am signing on!

If I were ever to do a race, it would have to be a Disney one, I can't think of better motivation really than using it as a way to get another trip!

That's actually exactly how my first race happened!

Resort plans look great, I adore (adore adore) the Boardwalk. Just returned from a trip there and fell in love.

I can't wait. I have a feeling I'll love it too. I've visited a lot but never stayed.

AP's should be on plastic cards, it really bugs me to no end!

I mean seriously! If the otherwise 'disposable' room key is plastic, wouldn't you want an AP, which you'll use again and again, to be plastic?!

 

[creativeamanda]

It's been a good Disney year.

A really good Disney year.

An "it hasn't been this good of a Disney year since back when I worked for Starwood and stayed at the Swolphin for $69/night and so was there at least twice a year" good Disney year.

By the time this Annual Pass (AP) expires, it'll have gotten 27 Disney days under it's belt.

If AP's have belts, that is.

Which it probably does.

First, the AP has a belt. And a personality. Of course.

Second, 27 days?!? You are my new hero.

Since I also have a Tables in Wonderland (TIW) card that has seen much use.

And will see some use soon.

Anywho...

So that works out to roughly $23/day, not bad for getting into a Disney park. And there is no need to discuss how much money I spent on dining, snacks and souvenirs that probably jacked that up to about $120/day...ahem.

No need at all. . .Moving on.

How do those 27 days break down? So glad you asked. I show you:

I asked?!?

3/8/12-3/14/12 (CSR): Spring trip with BF. Cool. Crowded, on and off. Second time we've gone around this time of year and we're ready now for a longer trip with more resort days, (Mickey, cover your ears) another visit to those other parks, and at least one water park day. Hopefully sometime in May-ish. Won't be a 2013 trip though. I promised BF we could go somewhere non-Disney next year. We're talking about cruising.

And no, probably not Disney cruising. Booooooo.

Have I not told you about my planned foray into another park? I must do it. That addition isn't a change, is it?

5/12/12-5/18/12 (POFQ): A surprise trip for my friend Missy. This was a BLAST of a girl's trip. She didn't know where we were going until we got to the airport and then each day I would give her a cute little card with the details of the day's itinerary. It was a whole lot of fun. I wish I could do this with all of my friends. Alas, most of my Disney-lovin' friends are planners to the core and I doubt very many of them would completely give up the reigns.

Is this the one we got to see yummy noms from Sleepy Hollow on FB?!?

8/18/12-8/21/12 (YC): The trip I shouldn't have taken. Seriously. This was the least fun I've ever had on a trip. It was booked VERY last minute (3 days before I left) and helped me realize something about myself. I'm an obsessive planner just like my friends and need to have a general plan. I'm not great at winging it. My knees and feet were acting up. It was Amazon jungle hot and humid. I was surrounded by entitled, ignorant people (unfortunately mostly from my home state! No joke. At dinner one night all 5 tables around me were seated with people from MA.). The CMs had had it and were tough to swallow too. And the resort...oh how I'd dreamed of staying at the BC or YC. OHH how the YC didn't live up. To be fair, I think it was more because of all of the above-mentioned issues and carpy interaction with a Front Desk CM, but next time I'm definitely staying at BC...and planning ahead!

I love the Beach Club, by the way. The cms there were awesome, but I had a not so friendly CM at CSR who could have ruined last trip for me, but I didn't let him.

2/21/13-2/28/13 (BWV/POR): Upcoming trip (duh)! Can't wait!

Nor can I!

I don't think there will be so much Disney in my life next year and so I probably won't be renewing my AP. It expires about 10 days after I'm home from this trip.

I really love my AP. It's going to be so hard to say good-bye (NOBoysIIMen). Though, I have to say/question this:

I have had a few AP's in my adult-Disney lifetime and every. single. one. has been on that flimsy paper ticket material. Um. Disney? Seriously. If I can hand over 611+ of my hard-earned dollars, I'm pretty sure you can print that sucker on credit card-like plastic. Heck, that's what my TIW card is on!

I've wondered that about the AP, as well.

UP NEXT: It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Dining! (a.k.a. Bring on the TUMS)

Or. . .the things Amanda talked me into reserving.

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

First, the AP has a belt. And a personality. Of course.

I think mine would have a sparkly belt.

Second, 27 days?!? You are my new hero.

Well, 27 days does make some of the airfare a little less painful.

I asked?!?

Totally did. Just didn't know it.

Have I not told you about my planned foray into another park? I must do it. That addition isn't a change, is it?

No, only room/resort changes count.

WHAT is this you speak of, woman? E'splain.

Is this the one we got to see yummy noms from Sleepy Hollow on FB?!?

Oh, you mean the Nutella and fruit on a waffle the size of your head picture?

I love the Beach Club, by the way. The cms there were awesome, but I had a not so friendly CM at CSR who could have ruined last trip for me, but I didn't let him.

Many of the CMs at YC were great. Better than great, actually. It was one Front Desk person and every single lifeguard but ONE that I encountered who put the sour taste in my mouth.

We didn't deal with many CMs at CSR. Mainly just the one who checked us in. And I'd done online check-in so even that was minimal. Though I'm not sure she understood me well. Her accent was VERY thick and she mostly smiled and nodded a lot.

::sigh:: CSR. I loved CSR. If I wasn't so determined to try a new resort for the latter half of my trip, and if I wasn't so positive I'm going to love me some POR, having just loved me some POFQ, I'd be staying at CSR. I wanted to take all of the furniture from the room and transport it home. A King-size headboard doesn't pack well, though.

Or. . .the things Amanda talked me into reserving.

To be fair, I totally talked you into joining me for the one the night before your race and the one the day we go to AK. And we agreed on those other two. LOL

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

Don't you hate it when you're on the DIS and you're in the process of writing a pretty long post and you accidentally hit TAB and then Backspace and it takes you back a page and you lose EVERYTHING you just spent 30 minutes writing?

 

[KatMark]

Okay, I am NOW all caught up (I needed to get an update done on my TR first).

Your plans sound great. And I must tell you that I definitely look like Picture #2 when I run and, therefore, choose not to run. But I'm also 20 years older than you so I have a good excuse.

I promise to stay up to date from now on.

 

[pooh'smate]

Don't you hate it when you're on the DIS and you're in the process of writing a pretty long post and you accidentally hit TAB and then Backspace and it takes you back a page and you lose EVERYTHING you just spent 30 minutes writing?

I have done this more times than I care to remember.

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

Okay, I am NOW all caught up (I needed to get an update done on my TR first).

And now I need to move my patootie over to YOUR TR.

And I must tell you that I definitely look like Picture #2 when I run and, therefore, choose not to run.

I know I look like Pic #2 too. I need an invisibility cloak.

 

[Tinkerbellarella]

I have done this more times than I care to remember.

It wasn't the next chapter but it was a rather good interim post. Perhaps when I'm being less of a diva about it I'll try again. LOL

 

[brookelizabeth]

FINALLY here!

I do hope this trip is better than August. It better be!

But really, how can it not? Plenty of time to prepare. Friend. Race. It will be good! I hope we have time to see each other too! We'll be there through the 23rd (I am not racing. ).

I sent you an email today. Just a little thing, but, still nice! If you are curious about the Royal Rooms still, just let me know-never hurts to look and I won't count it as a resort change.

 

[AshClan]

*peeking around a corner*

Hi there Nikki! Speaking of not being on the DIS in ages I have been a bit nostalgic over the past couple of weeks and was reading some old TRs (read: LaLa's) and just today noticed your new signature link for this report so I figured I'd pop by to say hey!

Congrats on the upcoming trip and your year o' fun in our favorite place. I have had an AP for several years now, but haven't gotten nearly the amount of use out of mine. Then again, I get the DVC discount so mine aren't as expensive as yours was, either. And, of course, I LOVE my TIW card (even though I still think Tables in Wonderland is a monumentally stupid name.)

You are scaring me, girl, on the Yacht Club. Our next Maelstrommer meet (yes, we still do them every year) is set to be based out of the Yacht Club (concierge level, baby) and we are pumped about it. I hope hope hope your bad experience will not be duplicated for us. You will adore the BWV. That's our "home base" (though not our home resort) for nearly all of our family trips and we love it. Creepy clown pool and all.

And...finally....good for you on the running! I am NOT a runner, though I do workout pretty regularly these days (not that the scale has rewarded me for it). Our most recent meet was in late September/early October and a few of our girls "fast walked" whatever 5K was going on that week. Frick, Jen (DisFan3), HaleyB, GAAristocat and I skipped it and had breakfast at GF Cafe instead. I did not regret that decision, but the girls who did it had tons of fun!

Miss you and glad to see you are doing well! Can't wait to hear more about your trip, and your training.

 

[creativeamanda]

I think mine would have a sparkly belt.

Of course it would.

Well, 27 days does make some of the airfare a little less painful.

Yeah, airfare not such and issue for me. . .

Totally did. Just didn't know it.

I'm 'fraid that I'm always asking questions and I don't realize it.

No, only room/resort changes count.

So, my new resort change, eh. . .what about it not being a change unless you move from one category of resorts to another. . .

WHAT is this you speak of, woman? E'splain.

Take a little trip to my PTR.

Oh, you mean the Nutella and fruit on a waffle the size of your head picture?

That has my name all over it!

Many of the CMs at YC were great. Better than great, actually. It was one Front Desk person and every single lifeguard but ONE that I encountered who put the sour taste in my mouth.

Wow. Our lifeguards were great last summer. . .Hmmm.

We didn't deal with many CMs at CSR. Mainly just the one who checked us in. And I'd done online check-in so even that was minimal. Though I'm not sure she understood me well. Her accent was VERY thick and she mostly smiled and nodded a lot.

Ha. That's interesting

::sigh:: CSR. I loved CSR. If I wasn't so determined to try a new resort for the latter half of my trip, and if I wasn't so positive I'm going to love me some POR, having just loved me some POFQ, I'd be staying at CSR. I wanted to take all of the furniture from the room and transport it home. A King-size headboard doesn't pack well, though.

I love that furniture, but the reason why I am doing POR this time is that boat to DTD and the whole idea of staying in the mansions.

To be fair, I totally talked you into joining me for the one the night before your race and the one the day we go to AK. And we agreed on those other two. LOL

Some fuzzy Disney math working there, I see

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Hey Tink!

It's been forever and a day since I was on the PTR board, so I was pleasantly surprised to find your thread. Loving all the details being served up with a healthy dose of Tink satire.

Good stuff that.

Hope your trip is a great one and your 5K is a roaring success!

What is a roaring success anyway?

I’ve had some great successes before, but I don’t recall any of them making angry jungle noises.

Though I’m pretty sure if I actually stuffed my fat rear end into a 5K corral there would be roaring aplenty. Success might be fleeting though…so I don’t know that it would qualify as a prime example of the aforementioned idiom.

Anyway, I hope you have fun and enjoy this trip more than the last.

 

[TarzansKat]

Dude.

I'm here.

And I come bearing gifts...

Let's all have a moment here...

...

...(side note, I believe this is the moment when you were explaining about the seventies having rum)

...

okay, that's good.


So now back to read.

 

[TarzansKat]

Let's go back. WAAAAAAY back.

Got your cans of Aquanet, ladies and gents? (Yes, the gents too - how else do you think they managed the Flock of Seagulls do?!) Welcome (back) to the 80's.

Tell me you did the 5-6 inch high bangs thing. Please. I was not the only one who succumbed to that trend? And the matching double layered socks, always coordinated to match the color of your shirt and / or pants, usually that delightful 80s / 90s neon?

In my Catholic grade/middle school, I liked to read in the shade at recess and was probably the only kid that preferred square dancing to basketball in gym. There was a short stint of playing soccer in there as well, sometime after I gave up dance, but my subconscious isn't really ready to relive those horrific few years.

Ah, square dancing. Why my gym teacher thought it was appropriate to pair me, a woman who maxed out height at 5' 4" and certainly was not that height in middle school with the TALLEST boy in my class (think practically 6 feet in middle school) I will never know. My elbow was up by my ear.

If there were a Hammock Olympics, I'd take the gold in the Women's Napping Division every time.

Michael Phelps who? Pshht.

I was immediately hooked and ready to do another one. I signed up for the Halloween 5K as part of the Wine & Dine 1/2 Marathon weekend in September of 2011 with my brother, his girlfriend, and my good buddy, TarzansKat (where is KittyKat, anyway?? Someone want to bring her on over to these parts? A Tinkerbellarella PTR is just not the same without some TK/Tink back-and-forth!).

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

This race course was through Animal Kingdom which has some...interesting...smells at 7:00 a.m. Though it was still a lot of fun, I'd put on about 20lbs, so I actually found this race to be a bit more challenging. By the end of the race I was pretty much ready to call it quits and have someone just roll me across the finish line. My hips were feeling wonky and my feet were filing divorce papers. I did finish though, and upright to boot.

Did it smell that bad? I don't remember, I had soooo much fun.

Yes, a 5K was fun. You heard me, people!

Do it!

Own it!

BE THE 5K!!!!!

I fully admit that I have drunk the Mouse's Kool-Aid and am a snob about staying onsite when visiting Walt's Kingdom. So much so that when we visited those OTHER parks ::shhhh!:: I wanted to stay on property there too. I know that not everyone feels the same way, but I have made the decision in the past to simply not go on a trip because I couldn't afford a Disney resort.

There are other places to stay?????

~ Kat and I racing back to our room at CBR, splashing in every puddle along the way, feeling not like adults, but FREE like children

I'm going to get serious for about a millisecond and tell you this actually brings tears to my eyes, thinking about how much fun we had. It's amazing to me how many of my super fun Disney memories involve being absolutely soaked by rain.

A stay at the Boardwalk meant perfect proximity to Epcot (my favorite park) and the Italian Margarita at the Tutto kiosk in Italy. It meant being able to walk to DHS too! It meant built-in race transportation (as BW is an official race resort). It meant being able to check out the (kinda creepy clown pool) and those ULTRA creepy chairs in the lobby. (I'm still not sure about the last one.)

Anything that puts me in that much proximity to so many alcoholic beverage choices is good in my book!

Not only did I feel like this would be the *perfect* resort for this trip, I could also cross a new resort off the list.

What list?

The "I Want to Stay at Every Disney Resort at Least Once" list.

So far, I've stayed at:

POP Century
All Star Music
All Star Sports
Caribbean Beach
Port Orleans French Quarter
Coronado Springs
Dolphin
Swan
Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo House)
Polynesian
Yacht Club
and now
Boardwalk!

Ooo, I want to play this game!

All Star Movies
All Star Music
All Star Sports
Pop Century
Caribbean Beach
Port Orleans French Quarter
POR when it was Dixie Landings - I think. I'm not sure.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Wilderness Lodge
Contemporary
Grand Floridian
Polynesian
Yacht and Beach Club
Saratoga Springs when it was Disney Institute
Shades of Green when it was The Disney Inn

2/18/13-2/21/13: Amanda at Coronado Springs
2/21/13-2/26/13: Me and Amanda at Boardwalk
2/26/13-2/28/13: Me at Port Orleans Riverside

It's like a game of Clue!

Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick!

I would totally drive down again, cutting the 22-24 hour trek into two days with a stop somewhere in the Carolinas. It would likely have to be a solo trip as BF wouldn't want to be in the car that long. And I honestly wouldn't mind. I love to drive!

:::coughcoughahemahemMightBeFuncoughcoughahem:::

(I've also been told that if your flight is delayed more than an hour you can switch to another flight with no change fee so long as there is availability. I haven't researched that one yet, though.)

Huh. You learn somethin' new...

My flight leaves T.F. Green (Providence, RI...if by Providence you really mean Warwick, RI) at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday 2/23/13. If we're on time (but hopefully early), we're due to arrive at 10:05. It's a direct flight. I'm kind of a direct flight snob. (I'm also a grocery store snob, but that's another story for another time.) I can't see extending what is only a 3 hour flight by stopping somewhere else, even for a lower rate. I value my time spent in the World that Walt Built more valuably than a few bucks.

Direct flights rule! I'm with you all the way.

Like my August flight home.

Which didn't leave until about 11:00 p.m.

And trapped me at MCO's Gate 120 (a.k.a. the suckiest gate in that terminal) with every manner of humanity and the mysterious wind.

The moaning, screeching, drumming boy.

The man that changed his pants in the middle of the terminal.

The Orlando sweatshirt cult (of which I was part of the pink and blue faction).

Some of you participated in the FB-posting marathon about said event but for those of you who didn't, holy rediculousness. I'm not usually too put off about a delay home. It actually allows me to acclimate to non-Disney life and time a little bit better (once I'm done grieving my departure from Dole Whip City) and is a great excuse to buy a new book. Or seven. Or maybe that's just me. But this delay, and all that it entailed, just felt out of control.

That was funny. Am I allowed to say it was funny now? I'm probably giving myself bad flight karma.

I retract, I retract.

And here's some little smilie dudes for good flight karma!

It's been a good Disney year.

A really good Disney year.

3/8/12-3/14/12 (CSR): Spring trip with BF. Cool. Crowded, on and off. Second time we've gone around this time of year and we're ready now for a longer trip with more resort days, (Mickey, cover your ears) another visit to those other parks, and at least one water park day. Hopefully sometime in May-ish. Won't be a 2013 trip though. I promised BF we could go somewhere non-Disney next year. We're talking about cruising.

And no, probably not Disney cruising. Booooooo.

5/12/12-5/18/12 (POFQ): A surprise trip for my friend Missy. This was a BLAST of a girl's trip. She didn't know where we were going until we got to the airport and then each day I would give her a cute little card with the details of the day's itinerary. It was a whole lot of fun. I wish I could do this with all of my friends. Alas, most of my Disney-lovin' friends are planners to the core and I doubt very many of them would completely give up the reigns.

8/18/12-8/21/12 (YC): The trip I shouldn't have taken. Seriously. This was the least fun I've ever had on a trip. It was booked VERY last minute (3 days before I left) and helped me realize something about myself. I'm an obsessive planner just like my friends and need to have a general plan. I'm not great at winging it. My knees and feet were acting up. It was Amazon jungle hot and humid. I was surrounded by entitled, ignorant people (unfortunately mostly from my home state! No joke. At dinner one night all 5 tables around me were seated with people from MA.). The CMs had had it and were tough to swallow too. And the resort...oh how I'd dreamed of staying at the BC or YC. OHH how the YC didn't live up. To be fair, I think it was more because of all of the above-mentioned issues and carpy interaction with a Front Desk CM, but next time I'm definitely staying at BC...and planning ahead!

2/21/13-2/28/13 (BWV/POR): Upcoming trip (duh)! Can't wait!

You know what would have made it AWESOME, instead of good?

If I was on one of those trips.

I'm just sayin'.






I'm ba-ack.

Did you miss me?